A Moment's Reprieve
by Smudge the rat
Summary: Added onto the end of the Christmas special, because I couldn't get over the sexual tension and because the Doctor is so very lonely. Contains spoilers for The Next Doctor.


**A/N: **It's Christmas Day... well, actually it's very early boxing day by now, but still. While watching the Christmas special, I found myself thinking that if Jackson was a female character the sexual tension would be obvious to everyone. So I went away and tried to write plausible fanfiction (if, like me, you believe that the Doctor is pansexual in this regeneration.)

Oh yes, and I don't think I need to say **this contains spoilers** but I thought I'd mention it seeing as I'm posting so soon after the episode was aired.

* * *

They walked side by side through the cobbled streets, boots crunching in the snow. Naturally, the Doctor had tried to slip out unnoticed, but the other man knew him far too well to allow it, and had insisted on walking him back to his TARDIS.

Throughout the meal their conversation hadn't ceased for longer than it took for the Doctor to shovel a forkful of potatoes into his mouth as Jackson had demanded story after story about his life. Perhaps he should feel uncomfortable, then, at the silence between them as they walked. Then again, he was the sort of man who liked to be left alone when he was deep in thought, and Jackson seemed to be exactly the same sort of man that he was. Why else would he take on his identity, find himself a companion and yearn to travel through time and space?

Sometimes the Doctor wondered what his life would be like if he didn't have the TARDIS. Look at Jack – he'd settled down, found himself a family of sorts. Hell, before the Doctor had travelled he'd even had a family of his own. That sort of thing tied you down, gave you responsibilities.

The Doctor gave Jackson a sidelong glance, suddenly seeing the human in a new light, as if there were a mirror between them. When they'd first met, the Doctor had found himself regarding the man as a broken version of himself and when he'd realised that they weren't the same man, he'd forgotten to change his perception of the human. It was so easy to see Jackson as his double that the Doctor had taken their similarities for granted. It was only starting to occur to him now just how much of a wonderful thing Jackson was.

They reached the TARDIS and Jackson gave her a wistful glance. "Travel through time and space..." he said softly.

"Mm," the Doctor mumbled, still half lost in thought.

Jackson turned to him. "Those stories, Doctor, that you told me at dinner. Were they true?"

Breaking into his most dazzling grin, the Time Lord leaned against his time machine and patted her side lovingly. "Every single word," he said with absolute conviction. "You know..."

"Know what?" Jackson asked when the rest of the sentence did not appear to be forthcoming. Until now his eyes had been fixed on the TARDIS, but now he slid his gaze over to the Doctor.

The Doctor toned his smile down a bit from 'overly-cheerful' to 'friendly' as their eyes met. "I've been thinking," he said. "And I've come to the conclusion that you, Jackson Lake, are brilliant."

Jackson seemed a little stumped by this revelation and the Doctor found himself wondering whether he should have led him up to it slowly. Backtracking, he ran a hand through his hair and added:

"I mean, really brilliant, and stop me if I've said this before but you humans never cease to amaze me. You deal with grief in the most bizarre ways but when you're needed you push it all aside and get better, just like that." He snapped his fingers and noticed that Jackson was smiling at him oddly, as if trying to figure him out.

"You're a peculiar man, Doctor," Jackson decided.

The Doctor stopped in his rambling tracks. "Good peculiar or bad peculiar?"

"Good peculiar, most definitely. Meeting you has opened my mind to the most... wonderful nonsense."

The Doctor's grin broke out again. "Out of all the humans I've met in my travels, I can't imagine anyone better to be the Doctor."

Stepping forward, Jackson offered his hand. "It was a pleasure to be you."

He took the hand, shook it, and used it to pull Jackson in for a hug, because what would Christmas be without hugs? Just another winter solstice celebration, that's what.

"Absolutely brilliant," he said again, his voice muffled by floppy brown hair. Jackson didn't seem to mind about the hug at all – in fact, he returned it with as much enthusiasm as the Doctor put into his hugs, which (in this regeneration at least) was almost as much as Jack Harkness put into flirtation.

They pulled away, and the Doctor's forehead crinkled a little as he found himself feeling something almost unfamiliar. It was that tingling sensation somewhere between his ribcage and his stomach... he'd felt it when Reinette had kissed him, the first time he'd said goodbye to Jack and not long ago when he'd seen Rose again.

Surprisingly, it was Jackson who tightened his grip on the Doctor's shoulders, leaned forward just enough that their noses brushed together, and kissed him. He wasn't timid about it, but at first he merely pressed his lips against the Time Lord's, waiting for him to respond before he went any further. After an understandable second of surprise, the Doctor obliged, slipping a hand behind Jackson's head and parting his lips slightly. To his delight, the human took full advantage of this and slid his tongue inside the Doctor's mouth, and suddenly they were kissing properly, tongues and lips sliding together perfectly.

The Doctor had kissed a few humans in his time, so he thought himself qualified to think that Jackson was a very good at it. The man didn't just kiss with his mouth, he put his entire body into the effort, pressing himself against the Doctor in a way that was swarm and pleasurable without seeming to demand sex. A hand stroked up his back and rested between his shoulder blades as the Doctor's hands found their own places to settle – one on Jackson's cheek, the other around his waist.

Jackson broke the kiss but not the embrace, and tilted his head downwards to press their foreheads together. Their breath mingled in the cold Christmas air, their thumbs and fingertips gently stroked over each other's skin and the Doctor suddenly found himself desperately wanting this wonderful, brilliant man.

"Come with me," he blurted out, knowing full well that the man couldn't just leave his son and the life that he was only just starting to remember.

Huffing out a breathe of laughter, Jackson rubbed his nose against the Doctor's cheek. "Stay with me," he challenged, knowing full well that not even the most wonderful, brilliant man in the universe could tie the Doctor down.

Slowly, they eased their grip on each other and pulled apart like bits of cloud drifting in opposite directions. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair while Jackson straightened his jacket and pressed a lingering kiss against the Time Lord's cheek.

"Find someone," he said. "You need a reason to smile."

Stepping back into the doorway of his TARDIS, the Doctor nodded. "I always do," he said quietly.

Jackson walked away without a further goodbye, and only looked back once before disappearing into the night. The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat and watched him go. This was how he felt when he watched Rose kiss the other him, knowing that he had to leave her in a place that was closed to him; lost in the universe and utterly, irrevocably alone.

He closed the TARDIS door, somewhat comforted, despite himself, by her companionable creaking as he turned to the console and typed in the co-ordinates for his next adventure. Always moving on, that was how he worked... because if he stopped to regret he'd never get up again.


End file.
